SWIVEL and Paydoff launch AI-driven digital collections platform to transform U.S. credit union payment operations

In a landmark move within the financial technology landscape, privately held digital payments innovator SWIVEL has announced a strategic partnership with Paydoff, a high-growth leader in artificial intelligence-driven collections automation. The collaboration will integrate both platforms to enable U.S.-based credit unions to deploy a unified, data-informed, and highly personalized collections infrastructure, combining SWIVEL’s secure payments ecosystem with Paydoff’s machine-learning-powered outreach engine. Though neither company is currently publicly traded, the institutional implications of this announcement mirror a broader shift underway across the U.S. community banking and credit union sector—where mounting pressure from macroeconomic headwinds, generational borrower behavior shifts, and post-pandemic regulatory realignments are forcing organizations to rapidly digitize core member-facing services. Industry observers suggest that this partnership could serve as a definitive template for embedded fintech adoption within regional credit markets.

What Problem Is the SWIVEL–Paydoff Integration Solving for Credit Unions?

Collections processes in credit unions have long operated within legacy systems dominated by manual workflows, live agent-based call centers, and print-driven notices. This architecture is proving increasingly inadequate in a digital-first era. As loan delinquencies surged by 20 percent year-over-year in Q1 2025 among mid-sized financial institutions, according to data from CUNA Economics, the urgency to shift toward automation, self-service interfaces, and predictive behavioral targeting has grown exponentially. The SWIVEL–Paydoff solution offers a truly end-to-end framework in which collections management, member communication, and repayment processing converge into a single, frictionless environment. By embedding real-time payment options within intelligent engagement channels, this integration allows institutions to both accelerate repayment timelines and enhance overall member satisfaction through more humanized digital interaction. Cory McDaniel, Senior Vice President of Business Strategy at SWIVEL, emphasized that this collaboration reflects direct market demand, stating that many credit unions are actively seeking to modernize collections while expanding flexible repayment options for their members.

How Does the Integration Work in Practical Terms?

The technical foundation of the integration lies in the embedding of Paydoff’s Collections Engagement Platform directly into SWIVEL’s enterprise-grade digital payments stack. This marriage of technologies creates a synchronized experience in which account holders receive personalized prompts through their preferred channels and can instantly act via embedded payment mechanisms. The solution leverages Paydoff’s machine learning engine to determine the best time, channel, and tone for each contact attempt—ranging from SMS and email to mobile push notifications—thereby optimizing outreach efficacy without involving live agents. SWIVEL’s secure, multi-rail payments infrastructure supports ACH, debit card, and digital wallet options, streamlining transaction completion at the point of engagement. On the administrative side, credit union teams gain access to deep analytics dashboards, behavioral segmentation tools, and regulatory-aligned tracking features, all while remaining fully compliant with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) consent requirements. The result is a system that balances operational efficiency, compliance risk reduction, and member-centric engagement in a single deployment.

What Broader Industry Trends Are Influencing This Strategic Move?

The strategic timing of this partnership aligns with several macro trends reshaping the North American financial services sector. First, the move toward embedded finance is becoming ubiquitous, as institutions increasingly favor licensing external APIs and prebuilt modules over building internal systems. This shift, pioneered by ecosystem players like Plaid, Galileo, and MX, enables rapid digital transformation without extended internal development cycles. Second, evolving borrower demographics are pushing institutions toward digital-first servicing models. Millennials and Gen Z, who now constitute the majority of new account holders in credit unions, overwhelmingly prefer self-service engagement and nonintrusive payment options. Third, regulatory pressure has intensified since the CFPB’s 2023 guidance on ethical and dignified debt collections, requiring organizations to adopt more respectful and transparent outreach tactics. Finally, operational efficiency mandates are squeezing profit margins across mid-sized institutions, prompting CIOs and CFOs to prioritize scalable automation solutions that reduce dependency on call centers and labor-intensive recovery operations. The SWIVEL–Paydoff partnership sits at the nexus of all four of these trends.

What Does This Mean for Member Experience and Financial Health?

For end users—the credit union members navigating financial strain—the value proposition lies in control, simplicity, and empathy. The integrated solution ensures that borrowers can address outstanding obligations on their own terms, using a method and timing that best fits their financial realities. According to early performance benchmarks provided by both companies, institutions that piloted the joint solution recorded a 30 percent improvement in contact engagement rates, a 40 percent reduction in average delinquency duration within the first 60 days, and a 25 percent increase in self-directed repayments compared to traditional call-based recovery models. This personalized experience not only improves collection metrics but also supports member financial well-being, helping individuals maintain control and transparency during periods of economic stress. Richard Formoe, CEO at Paydoff, reinforced this vision, emphasizing that the partnership is about more than operational efficiency—it is about creating a modern, self-directed member journey that reflects today’s borrower expectations.

What Are Experts Saying About the Partnership?

Though neither SWIVEL nor Paydoff are listed on public exchanges, institutional sentiment surrounding this category of partnership is overwhelmingly positive. In 2024 alone, venture and private equity funding into digital collections startups surpassed $800 million, with key participants including TrueAccord, Symend, and Tesorio. Advisory firms and capital allocators view collections automation and embedded payments as key enablers of fintech profitability and scalability in sectors such as regional banking, credit unions, and consumer lending. Adrian Malik, a fintech analyst at Structure Capital, commented in private post-deal analysis that horizontal SaaS integrations spanning both behavioral intelligence and secure transaction capabilities represent one of the highest-ROI automation opportunities available to under-digitized financial institutions. In this light, the SWIVEL–Paydoff alliance is viewed not as a one-off tactical integration, but as part of a larger architectural shift toward member-first financial ecosystems.

Is There a Competitive Landscape Emerging in Automated Collections?

The competitive field for digital-first collections technology is rapidly maturing. SWIVEL and Paydoff now compete with an array of specialized and incumbent providers across both the engagement and payment verticals. Among challengers, companies like TrueAccord and Debtsy have established footholds with AI-first recovery strategies, while traditional core banking players such as Jack Henry & Associates (NASDAQ: JKHY) and Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) are extending their platforms with embedded servicing modules. Additionally, conversational AI vendors like Kasisto and LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN) are partnering with fintechs to create intelligent front-end support layers for collections. However, the SWIVEL–Paydoff model stands out for its modularity, allowing institutions to deploy individual components or full-stack integration based on internal architecture and budgetary constraints. With more than 4,900 credit unions currently operating in the United States, the total addressable market for such flexible deployments remains vast, with regional variation offering even more segmentation opportunities.

Are There Future Growth Signals or M&A Implications?

Analysts tracking sector consolidation suggest that this partnership could signal the beginning of a broader wave of M&A activity involving infrastructure-grade fintech enablers. As banks and credit unions look for fully compliant, ready-to-deploy tools, companies like SWIVEL and Paydoff become attractive acquisition targets for enterprise technology vendors, core processors, and even CRM platforms. Future product expansions could include early-stage delinquency prediction, dynamic loan restructuring options, or intelligent prioritization engines for at-risk borrower segmentation. Given the scalability and API-first design of both systems, roadmap extensions into insurance, mortgage, or SMB lending are likely. Additionally, industry insiders expect SWIVEL to pursue a Series B growth round within the next three quarters, while Paydoff may deepen its ecosystem relationships with larger banking-as-a-service providers or real-time data aggregators.

How Are Market Participants Responding?

While the partnership’s impact is not visible in public equities due to the private status of both companies, feedback from early clients and fintech accelerators indicates substantial traction. Mid-sized credit unions in Florida, Texas, and the Midwest have already entered pilot phases, integrating the joint platform into their member servicing and delinquency workflows. Influential forums such as CU 2.0 and Finovate have highlighted the alliance as a transformative operational play for mid-tier institutions navigating labor shortages, compliance fatigue, and borrower churn. Moreover, internal discussions across venture capital Slack channels and deal tracker databases suggest increasing investor interest in the embedded collections category, with many viewing SWIVEL as a top contender for category leadership if execution remains strong.

The SWIVEL–Paydoff partnership represents a pivotal evolution in how credit unions manage the dual mandates of financial performance and member experience. By fusing secure digital payment technologies with behavioral intelligence and AI-powered outreach, the solution elevates collections from a reactive function to a strategic experience layer. If scaled effectively, this model could serve as the cornerstone for a new era in fintech infrastructure—one where empathy, efficiency, and engagement converge in service of both institutional resilience and individual financial empowerment.